How to Set Your Child's Bedtime

It is recommended by experts that children between the ages of five and twelve need nearly eleven hours of sleep to be at their best. This fact is quite startling but what might be even more startling is that most children in that age group get only nine hours or less. So, what time is a good kid’s bedtime for your situation? That depends.

It’s all about routine. People of all ages will sleep better if they have an established routine that they follow each night before going to sleep. This statement is especially true regarding children and cannot be overlooked, particularly when they’re heading back to school after being out for the summer when re-establishing routines tends to be difficult.

So back to the question at hand; what time is a good bedtime for your child? The best person to answer this would likely be your child’s doctor. Their expertise will allow them to determine the best time for your child to go to sleep. With your doctor’s knowledge of how much sleep would give your child the most restorative benefits, you can work backwards to select a time that best suits your kids.

Based upon your doctor’s recommendations, you now know the amount of sleep your child needs each day. If your child is very young, they can get some of their required sleep in at naptime. If however, they have begun first grade, they probably no longer receive a naptime. So how can you tell if they haven’t had enough sleep? Well, ask yourself some questions. Do they fall asleep in the car? Do you have to wake them in the morning? Do they stay up late? Are they unusually cranky during the day? Are they rubbing their eyes a lot? All of these could be telltale signs that your child has not received adequate sleep.

 A good thing to do is to limit the amount of sugar and/or caffeine your child intakes in a day, especially before bedtime. Despite what some rumors imply, sugary drinks or snacks will cause the child not to sleep, NOT help them get to sleep. The habit of having sugary snacks close to sleep is also unhealthy as they won’t have enough waking hours to be able to adequately digest their food, resulting in not allowing the body to work the way it should during sleep.

Armed with the knowledge of how much sleep your child requires, you can now set a specific time in which your child should be in bed. For example, if your child has to be up by 7:00 a.m. and they’re on the younger side of the five to twelve age groups, they should be in bed and ready to sleep no later than 7:00 p.m. If they’re on the older side, they may be able to stay up until around or slightly past 8:00 p.m., but not much later than that. While this may seem extreme, try it and see. You may come to notice marked improvements in your child’s behavior and energy level. If it becomes routine, it may not be such a struggle to have them go to bed at what previously seemed quite early.

In order to make the transition to bedtime easier on everyone involved, you should establish a routine that will help your child unwind – bathing, brushing their teeth, reading a story, or doing another quiet activity should help relax your child and ease them into sleep. If possible, follow your child’s cues. If possible, try to teach them to recognize these cues so they will be able to go to bed without having to be told.

So by determining how much you sleep is required for your kids bedtime and by making adjustments to try and ensure they receive it, your child should benefit greatly. Although it may be difficult to do every night, the closer they are to the optimum amount of sleep, the better they will feel.

Good Luck,

The Cackleberries Team